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Costs to Patient Care: Canada

Physicians cannot provide the best care for patients in Canada and overall care suffers under the government-run system.

• Canada’s system is an excellent example of what happens to the quality of care when government is the sole provider: ³¹
  • Patients have long waiting lines for critical procedures
  • There is a lack of access to current technology.
  • Taxpayers and patients face increasing costs.
  • Canada is facing a brain drain of doctors who head to the United States for better working conditions and more money.
• Of men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer, less than one fifth die in the United States, compared to one fourth in Canada. ³²
• Because of overworked, under-equipped hospitals and vast regions without any doctors at all, some Canadians are already being sent, at taxpayers’ expense, to American doctors and hospitals — or go at their own expense. ³³
• In Canada, the federal government sets and administers the national standards for provincial health care. Since the rates are low, physicians perform more services, placing upward pressure on spending and leading many provincial governments to cap the total amount they can bill in a year. ³⁴

Patients also have to wait longer periods of time for any medical assistance.

• The total average waiting time for Canadian patients rose to 16.5 weeks in 2001-2002, 77 percent higher than in 1993. ³⁵
• In Ontario, the average waiting time in 2001-2002 for prostate cancer treatment after seeing a specialist increased to 8.5 weeks from 6.5 weeks in 2000-2001. ³⁶
• Canadian medicine is characterized by emergency room triage and long waits for treatment. ³⁷

1. ³¹ “Canadian-Style Health Care Isn’t the Cure for U.S.’ Ills,” by Sally Pipes, Investor’s Business Daily, (March 7, 2003).
2. ³² “Five Myths of Socialized Medicine” by John Goodman, Cato’s Letter: Quarterly Message on Liberty, Volume 3, Number 1 (Winter 2005).
3. ³³ “Canada’s Health Care Shows Strains,” by Barbara Crossette, New York Times, (October 11, 2001).
4. ³⁴ Ibid.
5. ³⁵ “Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada,” by Nadeem Esmail and Dr. Michael Walker, 12th Edition, (September 2002)
6. ³⁶ Ibid.
7. ³⁷ “Canada’s Health Care Shows Strains,” by Barbara Crossette, New York Times, (October 11, 2001).